From the Steppes to the Shtetl: A Vocal Workshop in Berkeley, CA.
February 3 @ 19:30 - 21:30 PST
Broaden your singing horizons, and strengthen your voice by exploring Yiddish and Slavic folk song traditions .
Dive into an explosive mixture of songs from the Steppes and the Shtetl. And extra flavor with spices from a Tatar Bazaar, and wash them down with an Odessa fisherman’s tune: Yiddish folklore and popular songs, the powerful and the profound wordless songs – nigunim, traditional Slavic songs and Art songs in harmonies. Tune up your whole body and mind with your voice in full. Develop new ways for your voice to flow – free, inspiring, exciting. This workshop will also include a meditative sound bath, some fun folk rituals and simple circle dances. We will look into connecting with other cultures through singing, learn new repertoire and style and enjoy the depth and beauty of singing together. Open to all!
Polina’s teaching utilises a rich combination of her two blood cultures learnred at the source. She uses vocal experimentation with particular attention to the personal and emotional aspects of our musical creativity. Each group is different, so the songs we learn, the pace and the energy of the week will be very fluid and dependant on who we have. The workshop is very interactive and flexible. We can go into history and culture of the music and we can work with voices and bodies, the songs can be short and easy to learn or complex and challenging. Usually, there is a bit of everything!
Anyone can join and there will be benefits for professional singers, experienced choristers as well as for those who consider themselves home singers or have never sung in their lives. Willingness to explore is, however, essential.
Polina Shepherd was raised in a Cossack / Jewish family in Tatarstan, Russia. Whilst studying in Kazan State Academy in the 1990s, she toured with Russia′s first klezmer band after Perestroika, Simcha. By her early 20s she was a Yiddish choir and klezmer band leader, composer, touring musician, educator and festival organiser. She moved to the UK in 2003. Her recent work includes touring with Apollo’s Fire, Cleveland (OH, USA) Grammy-winning baroque orchestra and ‘Folk-Cabaret’ The Stranniki with Psoy Korolenko (UK-USA). As a pianist, she plays live accompaniment to B&W silent films from the 1910-1930s in The Sound & Light Cinematic Duo. In cinema, she recorded for The Windermere Children and appears conducting and soloing in TV series The Crown. In theatre, most recently she’s been Music Adviser and recorded for National Theatre co-production of Kin by Amit Lahav; Music Adviser and arranger for a A Secret About Joy, by Sarah Brown in Sibiu, Romania. Polina’s choral work has been published internationally, most recently in Edition Peters Yiddish Choral Series. Music Director of Caravan Orchestra and Choir, an international project for young musicians with classical, jazz and Arab music backgrounds.
